you know what's a great way to celebrate being elected president of the united states? road trip. this is cnn tonight. i'm don lemon. donald trump kicks off what he is calling his thank you tour in cincinnati. >> we spend too much time focusing on what divides us. now is the time to embrace the one thing that truly unites us. you know what that is? america. america. it's america. >> meanwhile, questions swirling about the incoming first family particularly ivanka trump. is she a good role model for girls and young women?

we'll discuss all of that this even. i want to bring in jim acosta in cincinnati. jim? >> reporter: don, true to form, donald trump did not pull any punches at this rally in cincinnati. the equivalent of an election touchdown the dance, trump railed against the news media and vowed to repeal and replace obama and care and build a wall on the border. the big news came when he announced his pick for defense secretary, james mattis. here's how trump put it to the crowd here in cincinnati. >> we have a great, great cabinet. i'll tell you. it's coming and wait till you see what we have next week. are we doing a good job with our cabinet and our people? and i don't want to tell you, i don't want to tell you this because i want to save the suspense for next week. so i will not tell you. i refuse to tell you.

don't let it outside of this room. do you promise? raise your hand? promise. so i will not tell you that one of our great, great generals, don't let it outside, right? and of course the press is very honest. they will never let this go. we are going to appoint "mad dog" mattis as our secretary of defense. they say he's the closest thing to general george patton that we have, and it's about time. it's about time. >> trump made that announcement despite the fact that earlier in the evening his own spokesman jason miller took to twitter to deny any decision had been made on secretary of defense. trump has more stops on his so-called thank you tour planned for next week. don?

>> jim, thank you. here to discuss all of this, executive editor mark preston, cnn political analyst kiersten powers and david swerdlick. kind of like an oops for that announcement. but first before we get to that, mark, we have never seen a president-elect hold a thank you rally before. what's your reaction to the speech? >> i don't think it was necessarily a thank you rally and it was a guess what, i won rally. >> he did say thank you america. >> he did say thank you america. he went out and definitely rubbed the nose in the dirt a little bit. but he did win. you know, and this has been the way he has run his campaign and certainly has been running his transition. and that's fine. i think that it's okay that he did it. give him props for winning. i wouldn't suggest going forward that he would continue to carry this tone going forward. i think he did try tonight to be conciliatory but probably not the best strategic thing to do. >> kiersten. >> i'm in the same place.

this was sort of a flashback to the election. clearly there has been no pivot yet. we're still seeing the same donald trump doing his entertainment and getting energy off the crowds and taking digs at the media which i said in the last hour i think we deserve. i don't know if you agree with that, don. but i think the media did -- at a bare minimum, he had to listen to us say that he was not going to win and never break through the blue wall and things like that. he did ultimately win. if he wants to attack the media a little bit, we can handle it. >> what do you think, david? >> i think mark's right that there was a slight aspect of you know how do you like me now i won type element to this. but on the other hand, i think there's a lesson to be learned. maybe a little lesson to be learned from democrats and that's that you have to maintain eye contact with and keep the faith with the voters that brought you into office.

i think democrats lost sight of that over the last number of cycles. and that hurt them. >> i want to get all of your reactions to general james mattis, his choice for secretary of defense. again, he surprised everyone at this rally making that announcement when one of his spokespeople said like two hours before, was it jason miller? >> yeah, that no decision had been made. clearly a decision had been made. trump put his spokesman in a very bad spot. trump should be lauded for this pick. mattis, a soldier's general known as mad dog clearly for his military acumen and his desire to win but also very learned, very smart. somebody who talks about the need to read and understand history and is really a big proponent of it, spent the last three years out at stanford at the hoover institution. i think a smart pick. now having said, that he needs to get through a senate confirmation and get a waiver, but because he hasn't been out

of the military for seven years. >> it's interesting that everyone is going why this guy? i mean people are not saying that. the media is not saying that. people are not questioning why he picked this person. >> right. i think he's very respected. that's true. he's considered sort of a warrior scholar. but there is an issue of putting somebody who's in the military in charge of the defense department. you know, that you don't have any civilian leadership over the military. and so that should be i think maybe getting a little more attention and then you have general flynn -- retired general flynn running the national security apparatus in the white house. so that to me is a little concerning and we need to look at it a little more. >> what do you think, david. >> he's a respected general. he's had one or two minor controversies about some of the language he's used to describe warfare. but i think the issue with general mattis as with general flynn as with whoever becomes the secretary of state is ultimately less about the resume of these individuals and about whether or not down the road when some hard decisions have to

be made whether or not they're going to still be on the same page with president trump when it comes to things like whether we're going to stick with the iran deal or how we're going to approach russia. policy is going to wind up being an issue and how everyone reacs -- reacts to world events in realtime as we get into the trump administration. >> you know, don, to that point, mattis is somebody who is not on the same page or in the past his remarks have not been on the same page regarding russia as we have seen from trump himself. so it will be interesting to see what he's going to say. mattis is not on the same page when it comes to the issue of torture the. when he sat down with trump and trump said what do you think of waterboarding? he said give me a pack of beers and a pack of cigarettes and i can get a lot more done. that's a guy's kind of guy, like a military kind of guy. so you know, but here's to your point, there could be up to five flag officers in pompeo serving

in the trump cabinet. that's a lot of the military folks. yeah. yeah, i mean, to me, that's the thing that we need to be looking at more, and asking trump, what is this attraction you have to all of these retired military people in your administration because it's highly unusual. also in particular with i think the department of defense which is supposed to be under civilian control. mattis is going to have to get a waiver in order to get this job because you have to be i think ten years out, isn't it? >> seven years. >> seven years out from serving. so there's a reason that we do things this way. >> what's your concern? we are not a military state. so what's your concern? >> the concern is that you have it's too much of a military perspective and not people who are looking at it from a nonmilitary perspective. clearly the president will be, but i think that you want to have people who have a different way of looking at things. >> let's talk about unity because donald trump spoke about the importance of it.

>> i've spoken to democrats, and i said to them, look, we can't go on with this gridlock. it's gone on for so many years. it's gone on for so many years. they can't get together. we're going to get together. and i believe they want to get together. you know why? because it's time and the people are angry. they're angry. and they're going to get together. we're going to make joint decisions. we are. and the nice part, our victory was so great, we have the house, we have the senate, and we have the presidency. >> david, this really was the first time that donald trump spoke as president-elect. not only to his supporters but also to more than the 2.3 million people who voted for hillary clinton. did he win over anyone who didn't support him? >> i'm not sure that he did, don. there was nothing wrong with what he said in that clip that you played.

i think that given how divisive the campaign was over the course of a year and a half, the us versus them tone of the trump campaign day after day, there is an opportunity here that i think he could take and probably should take in the transition to give a speech not exactly like but similar to the more perfect union speech that then senator obama gave in 2008 that really outlined his views on race in america. trump doesn't necessarily have to give a strictly race speech but a speech that really speaks to people in the country who worry about his presidency who didn't support him and want to know, if he's going to appoint people to the supreme court who might potentially vote to roll back same-sex marriage, what -- why would he do that? people of color, muslims, other folks want to understand why his campaign was run in the way it was run and he has an opportunity during the transition or shortly after he's elected to do that. if he doesn't do something like that, he's going to wind up in a situation where folks may have a closed mind to what he's proposing.

>> kiersten, the knee jerk reaction to trump supporters is to say oh, you are whining. liberals are upset because of hillary clinton. that's not exactly the full story though, is it? considering what happened? or is it? >> i think there is a lot of us trying to understand the trump voter but there's not a lot of people on the trump side that seem to be understanding why other people might have different feelings and have legitimate grievances with him. so it would be nice if they would you know, i have to say, i don't think they're the most gracious winners frankly. and that they could stand to maybe at some point maybe it doesn't have to be this minute but consider that there are legitimate grievances. these are not people who are whining. there are real problems about things that were said, there are real concerns about steve bannon that need to be addressed. and you know if he is interested in unifying then he needs to do that. if he's not interested in unifying and wants to shore up his base which he may decide that's what he wants to do and

just wants to keep his people fired up. if he says he wants to unify, he has to take a different tack. >> i don't think it's that hard. i really don't. i think at some point, to what david is saying, going out and giving a speech and talking about unifying and leaving out all these other extra things that kind of cloud the message he may have been trying to deliver tonight, if he tries to stay with his base, that's going to be a losing strategy. it will be a losing strategy. at some point, he has to sacrifice, sacrifice some of his base in order to get things done in washington. he's going to need democrats. he doesn't have alliances. republicans aren't necessarily allies of donald trump in washington, d.c. but look, when he says he wants to get things done, i take him

at his word. we all should take him at his word. the way our government's set up, some of the things he wants to get done democrats will try and stop and quite frankly will be successful in doing so. >> here's what donald trump said earlier on fox tonight. >> made some great selections and more than a few. it's been a well oiled machine. we're doing well. we're getting fantastic people. and actually getting very good reviews. people are respecting the process and what we've done. >> since you've been elected, some people have had a hard time dealing with it and poor kids on college campuses have their professors giving them cocoa and aroma therapy and coloring books and play-doh. they're apparently upset they couldn't deal with it. anything you'd like to say to them that it will be okay? >> i think they're going to be very happy. i think we're going to have a very safe country, prosperous country. we're going to do things that will create jobs for their parents in many cases where their parents can do a lot better. you most of their parents voted for me. we're going to have a very prosperous and safe country. >> so the question that was the wrong -- that is exactly what should not be done.

but his response was actually very good. >> he's response was very good. that is a leading question. >> it was a stupid thing to say. >> it was a stupid thing to say. >> and yes, we did see some of that of awards which by the way was stupid afterwards following the election where some kids were saying i can't take my exams but that's what's wrong with the division in america right now. where those are statements they're not questions by journalists and quite frankly if we're going to come together as a nation, everyone has to give a little bit. >> and that's to your point to what you said. there's some very real feelings and as you said, you're going to win. you always say be a gracious winner. >> right. >> right. >> yeah, right. which like i said, i don't think we're necessarily seeing a lot of that. i will give a little. >> his response was very gracious i do think. >> he was gracious. and he could have really gone to town the on it because what sean hannity was talking about was political correctness which is donald trump's favorite thing to talk about.

he really could have piled on there. >> david, do you want to weigh in on this? >> look, there's a kernel of truth to the point hannity was making about democrats or non-trump voters needing to sort of get their heads around the idea that trump came out on top. but to kiersten's earlier point, to be dismissive, the way hannity was being dismissive of folks that are genuinely concerned, genuinely have anxiety about the trump administration it's not helpful. and you know, it's not just to me bad loserism or bad winnerism. there's something about it that is hypocritical. there was a ton of complaining on the part of conservatives and republicans in the early years or really throughout the obama administration. so you know, a little self-reflection is worth it on both sides. >> david, want to talk about what happened at harvard university panel where top trump and hillary clinton advisors met and one heated exchange, chinn adviser jennifer palmieri accused trump of pedaling racism and providing a platform for white

supremacist by hiring steve bannon. what's your perception? >> we've talked a lot about steve bannon. i'm like look, it is very fair to say that breitbart, his website traffics in anti-semitic stereotypeses, about people of color, bannon has been a geis divisive figure. whether bannon himself holds these views i think is still sort of up for debate. i'm trying to research into it as much as i can. to jennifer palmieri's point, look, they have a point that the trump campaign was very divisive and i think some of the responses that were reported out by kellyanne conway for instance in that same forum that democrats didn't do a great job of messaging also is a point. you could go back and forth on this endlessly. democrats need a shakeup. whatever they're saying now they need to move forward and think about 2018, 2020. >> time to move on. >> yeah.

>> well, beyond. >> do you think the clinton campaign is still in denial? >> yes, definitely in denial. if you read about what happened there, they're totally in denial. because that's a piece of it what jennifer palmieri is talking about, but the much bigger problems as much as i think dremts cou-- democrats wo like to make themselves feel better and say the only reason he won was because of racism, it's just not true. a lot of these voters not a lot but a certain number of voters voted for hillary before. you have union people. so democrats have to look at this and say what happened, how did we used to dominate in these states? how did they used to be our voters and now have you bill clinton we need to go there and robbie mooks saying we'll never get those voters again. what happened? to be constantly yelling racism is not going to get to the bottom of the problem. >> you're right on that but it's not just democrats. there's also some republicans, some people who were anti-trump who feel the racism played a big role. it's not entirely it but it did play a role. >> it played a role. i don't think, here's the question.

what if had been joe biden? i think joe booind -- biden very well could have beaten donald trump. there's something about hillary clinton's candidacy and something about how they ran the campaign that plays into this. >> all right. thank you. another fascinating conversation. thank you guys. when we come back, will ivanka trump have a role in her father's white house and is she a role model for girls and young women? score?" "you don't want to ride the 13l forever, do you?" "credit karma huh?" "yeah, it's free." "credit karma. give youself some credit."

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is ivanka trump poised to take on a role in her fathers's white house? here to discuss is rach ael squaw, emily jane fox is a staff writer for "vanity fair" annie karni. good to have all of you on, three very smart individuals tonight. annie, you've got a new article about the possibility that ivanka trump could be a climate czar in her father's administration. is she qualified to do that? >> this is an issue that i'm told by people close to her she wants to talk about. she sees i think she's trying to position herself as potentially a bridge to the liberals and progressives who are disgusted and depressed by the election of donald trump. and she sees herself as sort of an avitar who can be loyal to her father while also kind of giving these people something to hope for. so climate change is a new thing. we've heard her talk about parental leave at the republican national convention. this is another thing i'm told she really cares about,

something her father said is a hoax perpetuated by the chinese. it is an odd one for her to pick. the question is does she really want to influence policy on this issue or is this something she's choosing to keep herself sort of clean of the of her father's most extreme positions. we don't know yet. >> a similar question emily. you write a lot about ivanka trump. is it surprising she would choose climate change since her father said global warming was a hoax? >> i spoke to a source close to her today and the source told me she's not choosing climate change. she's been very clear and very single minded in terms of the policies she has supported. she's going to keep focusing on issues related to women and working women and families. and that is her main priority. she stayed on message throughout the campaign on that one note. that's not going to change now that her father has won the election. what i'm told is that she's going to listen and wants to learn about a variety of issues, climate change being one of them.

but her main focus is going to remain on the parental leave situation. >> rachel, you're skeptical about ivanka's role and more. explain. >> yes. is she going to be running her dad's businesses and also having a role in his administration? and yes, i'm skeptical about all of this. i'm skeptical about her being a bridge to liberals and a bridge to hope. based on the fact that we have not seen any evidence of that. that was sort of a through line of sort of ivanka coverage in the campaign that she had her father's ear and making him more moderate. did we that play out in her father being more moderate? we haven't seen that. >> it didn't actually happen. >> yeah. so there's a lot of message tag -- messaging that comes at us about the trumps. i think it's just best to watch and see what they do and at

every stage of the game to point out when that is say counter to the constitution. >> so annie, if your article you describe ivanka going to a gathering of liberal elites in aspen you said two months before the election and you saud avan ka, 35, trump's avatar among the moneyed left wing elite is poised to be the first first daughter in history to play a larger public role than the first lady and she is positioning herself as she did that weekend as a bridge to moderates and liberals disgusted and depressed with the tone and tenor of the new leader of the free world. she's played a role in softening her father's image whether it's real or not to rachel's point. but can she be a conduit to people who are skeptical of him at this point? >> well, this is the thing. she can't to rachel's point, if she's going to run the business, she's going to have a problem if she wants to influence policy. that's a huge conflict of interest. she could step in a ceremonial way. melania trump is clearly hasn't said a public word, sent a tweet, been out in public since the election. she's not stepping up to play

the ceremonial role that ivanka seems to want to do. ivanka, i don't know if she's going to influence policy but people are writing these dear ivanka letters on social media and leaving them outside of a kushner owned building in manhattan. by her at least saying she will listen on these issues and cares about these issues, i think it makes people feel they have someone in the trump orbit who at least she's a former democrat. see socializes as in this aspen conference hike with the liberal donors, hillary clinton's biggest donors. that's her social scene. so maybe it is messaging as rachel said. i think she's right to be skeptical about all of this. but in a ceremonial role and the first lady is in some sense, ivanka is someone that is positioning herself to be seen as someone who can hear the other side. >> uply, you seem to be in

agreement. are you? >> i think ivanka is going to take on a role that is much similar, is similar to what hillary clinton did when she was first lady in the white house. it's unusual for a first daughter to play that role. but hillary clinton tackled child health care when she was first lady and it seems like ivanka trump as first daughter is going to try and tackle issues related to working women. >> here's a question, emily. as i said, the children will be running the business. she's one of the children. how is she going to separate business from policy? >> well, legally, she has to. if she's going to play some sort of real role in the administration it's been illegal for 50 years to do that as a child, period, someone related to the president, period. if she's going to run the business and be a child doing that, there are so many conflicts and so many things she's going to have to address. she's going to have no choice but to address them. >> you wanted to add? >> so far she has not separated fully. it should be noted she sort of siphoned off the social media presence that her business and

brand had built up and she took it for plain old ivanka trump and she has still been retweeting whatever her business is doing and so this is still very blurry. >> my question is, do you think though that is it a double standard? what if we were talking about chelsea clinton now? >> there would be like a five alarm headline on drudge and you know everybody would be freaking out. there's the biggest double standard ever in talking about the clintons. we know this. this election is pretty much proof of that. so yes, there is a double standard at play. and i think it should be called out. >> annie, did you say something? >> yeah, i just came from the trump rally here in cincinnati, and i was talking to a lot of trump voters who want him to drain the swamp about what they think of these goldman sachs appointees. they say he's learning. give him time like they -- i just get the sense that trump supporters give him a lot longer leash than other politicians which is probably why he's here

today. i think that's right. these -- ivanka, see sat in on the meeting with the japanese prime minister while she's still running the business. she tweeted a link to her ivanka trump gold bangle she wore on "60 minutes." people are willing to say it's all new to them. they're figuring it out. people are giving them a longer leash than they give to chelsea clinton. >> i'm so sorry. i can't help it. it's a physical reaction at this point of incredulity. this is the presidency. you prepare for this. full stop. >> i think in fairness. >> hold your thoughts. i'll give you the first word on the other side of the break. when we come right back, ivanka trump and kellyanne conway are the top women on trump team? are they role models for girls and young women? we'll discuss.

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kellyanne conway and ivanka trump are the top women in the trump team. are they role models? back with me, rachel sklar as president, my father will change listen to her speak at the republican convention. >> as president, my father will change the labor laws that were put in place at a time when women were not a significant pouring of the work force. and he will focus on making quality child care affordable and accessible for all. >> as a mother myself of three young children, i know how hard it is to work while raising a family and i also know that i'm far more fortunate than most. american families need relief. policies that allow women with

children to thrive should not be novelties, they should be the norm. politicians talk about wage equality but my father has made it a practice at his company throughout his entire career. he will fight for equal pay for equal work and i will fight for this, too, right alongside of him. >> emily, role model for women? >> i think it depends on which women you ask. i think look, it's hard for a lot of people to square ivanka, the advocate for women who work. that's a noble thing i'm glad she's doing that. there are a lot of women glad she's speaking about issues that don't get talked about in washington. it's hard to say i'm an advocate for these women but when given the chance i don't actually advocate for them. here's hoping she does advocate in the administration. >> annie?

>> i think you know on the one hand as you said, she's a working mom. a successful business woman. probably the only woman in a room full of men. the women who work initiative she has in a lot of ways it's a dressed up marketing opportunity on her website, she features testimonials from women like an ap history teacher from alabama and on the right it says shop the teacher's looks. it's all ivanka trump branded clothing. there has to be an awareness ivanka trump has been trying to become an international brand for her entire career. you can respect that. but it's also been about making money for herself. that's a feminist stance in some ways and something that you know be a powerful business women. but it's been about enriching the family. >> but rachel, that's sort of what her father, that's what she learned, correct, from. >> i don't know what she learned from her father.

but i just think it's important to get back to the definition of feminism which is political, social and economic equality for women. and she actively fought against and defeated the person who would have been an advocate for that for women in the white house. instead, we have her father who has not shown that he will be that. let's just leave it at that. we have not necessarily seen from ivanka except for this child care issue. again, so if she's going to push hard for that, great. as to her role model status, yes, sure, of course. she's a successful businesswoman and built a successful company. it depends what you look up to i was not impressed by the way she besmirched hillary clinton during the campaign and claimed hillary clinton had not done anything on this issue. that was a falsehood and that was not something that i appreciated. nor did i appreciate her silence

about the claims of sexual assault against her father. that's complicated. >> let's continue the conversation. i want to bring in the other prominent woman in the campaign. that's kellyanne conway, the campaign manager and now a senior advisor to the president-elect for children. would you call her a feminist icon? i don't know if i would call her a feminist icon. a lot of people give her credit for the w in trump's column. i think she really righted a ship that was going in all sorts of crazy directions. and i think she was incredibly talented in what she did. >> let me stop you. a lot of people say if you look at why donald trump won, it was actually on, it was already on course with corey lewandowski. all you needed to do was keep the train on the track and sort of tone him down a little bit. so you know with, that said, go on. >> she was an incredible spokeswoman. i've never seen someone not answer so many questions in interviews. even "saturday night live" did a sketch where she was always available and always dodging

questions and she was just an incredibly talented spokeswoman. i think she really helped message the campaign when it needed messaging most. >> do you think if she were a democrat because many people say if she were a democratic democrat, she would be lauded as a feminist icon. >> she wouldn't be promoting donald trump. it's like saying if strom thurmond had been for civil rights, he would be a civil rights activist. they're very impressive women. very impressive women. absolutely that should be acknowledged but being an impressive woman does make you a feminist icon. feminism makes you a icon. equality for women, economic and social, including reproductive rights. it cannot be stressed enough. >> i think it's not a democrat or a republican issue here. i think the issue is donald trump so you can be supporting

certain issues or you can be really good at your job and those are things to look up to. but when it comes to using those talents and using that status to support someone who is caught on tape saying i use my fame to grope women and kiss them when i want to, it's really hard to then say this is about democrat or republican or feminist or not. it's hard to square that supporting someone like donald trump. >> so what do you do then, annie with someone to what emily said, is responsible for somewhat responsible for the "w" can take credit for the "w" in the column for donald trump? someone like kellyanne conway? where do you put her on as a feminist icon possibly or as a role model for women? >> look, she made history as the first woman to run a -- to manage a major party's presidential campaign and she delivered a win. so that is just -- those are just facts. i think it is harder with

republican women in politics because she elected a president who wants to appoint supreme court justices who would overturn roe v. wade. she advocated for policies that probably would not benefit a lot of women, middle class women in this country. see glossed over more than a dozen incidents of women accusing donald trump of sexual assault. so i think it is more complicated for republican women when you compare their clear success professional success. she's the top of her game and in a really competitive profession. versus the issues that they're talking about. so that's why i think it's difficult when you compare if she was on the democratic side when the issues are more about championing women's rights. specifically. >> women's issues. thank you. appreciate it. donald trump speaks to a cheering crowd in ohio tonight. is he giving us a glimpse of what the next four years will be like?

president-elect trump spoke to a crowd tonight inside the u.s. bank arena in cincinnati. his supporters outside the rally gave him high marks, too. cnn's randi kaye talked to some of them. >> we're going to be the first on the victory tour. that's why i'm here. >> reporter: for most of the people at this so call thank you tour, it's so far so good. >> what has impressed you so far. >> impressed me? his perseverance, his attitude, his resilience and his strength. and just look at the work ethic he's had. the fact that he works tirelessly is certainly a credit, i think, to what he's going to be able to do going forward. >> reporter: how would you say the transition is going so far. >> i think he's doing great. he's like a workaholic. >> reporter: what has impressed you about donald trump since he was elected?

>> just his composure. he's acting very presidential-like. >> reporter: everyone we spoke with here is in awe of how quickly donald trump is pulling together his cabinet. >> glad to see that he has a couple of women on there. his cabinet is likely going to be one of the wealthiest cabinets in modern history. can you relate to that? >> personally, no. i wish i could. >> reporter: is that okwu? -- is that okay with you? >> i'm trusting -- i really do believe he's picking the a plus plus people that he says. the people that are the most educated in the field and that will do the job that he wants done. >> yeah, they're billionaires but they're smart with their money. we're going to be smart with america's money. it only makes sense to me. >> reporter: while trump appears to be considering naming mitt romney secretary of state, these supports are a lot less forgiving. >> reporter: should donald trump pick mitt romney as secretary of state? >> i don't know. the things he said about him, i don't know. he has to be forgiven to be able to pick him. i don't think so. >> reporter: who would you like then? >> giuliani.

i like him. >> that's a big no on mitt romney. i supported mitt four years ago you know, and but the way he was bad mouthing trump, no, no way. >> reporter: trump's supporters like what they see see in the president-elect especially his get it done attitude but they haven't forgotten that more than half of those who voted did not choose their candidate. >> everybody has a choice. we were all given that. and some people make bad choices and some people make good choices and i think i made an excellent choice and i'm proud of it. >> they're going to be impressed. they're going to be trump sporters because he is going to prove that he's going to get the economy going again. is he going to build the wall. it's going to happen. >> reporter: everyone here believes trump will deliver on his props especially the one he made to help people like them. what will he do for someone like you? >> i'm a small business -- i have a small business. when he said he was going to cut

that down in half 15%, that is going -- >> taxes? >> it's going help tremendously. >> what do you want to say to voters who didn't vote for donald trump today? >> give the man a chance because he's going to be one of the greatest we've had. >> reporter: randi kaye, cincinnati, ohio. >> thank you very much for that. let's discuss andre bauer, a former lieutenant governor of south carolina, bakari sellers joins us, as well. what's your reaction? i want to get your reaction. did you get to watch the trump rally tonight? what's your reaction? first to you andre. >> i did. i thought it was very uplifting. the guy had a positive message. he talked about where he wants to go with the country. he addressed so many issues whether you talk about energy, policy it, inner cities. the guy's -- he is in his element. this is a business guy. when he gets results, he gets more energy. just like i am. i know exactly what he feels like. he had a huge victory today. well, in the last few days with carrier.

he's charged up and ready to go. he's excited about doing the job. and the guy works tirelessly, barely ever sleeps. he's surrounding himself with very knowledgeable people that are ready to take on these tough tasks that we have had mounting for some time. i'm excited because he is. that's a sign of a good leader. >> i thought you were going to run out of adjectives there, andre. bakari, what did you think? >> i think we've seen this show for the last 18 months and donald trump, he feeds off the energy of the crowd. he does very well when he's in a rally setting. he's very loose with facts and the truth. it's a fact-free environment. that's what you expect. we saw a lot of the same. he was definitely high energy, he was upbeat. that's how most people are when they come off a victory. this wasn't so much a thank you tour as it was i told you so tour. with his rhetoric, with his tone, his tenor, with his poll seats -- poll seize, he's

going to have a long way to go to bring this country together. i think that donald trump does know and does keep count of the fact that hillary clinton got 2.5 million more votes than he did. he keeps count of the fact that 73 million people if you include all of those who voted for hillary clinton and someone else didn't vote for him. and so he goes in not the strongest candidate with the mandate by any stretch but someone who the onus is on to bring this country together and that's just a very difficult task for donald trump. we'll see if he's able to pull it off. >> a question for you guys just an observation i just made. i want to play this. this is what he said about bigotry. i'll get your response. . we condemn bigotry and prejudice in all of its forms. we denounce all of the hatred and we forcefully reject the language of exclusion and separation. we're going to come together. we have no choice, we have to, and it is better. it is better. >> so my observation was that -- your responses couldn't have been more different, right?

and i'm wondering if it's -- you know, if you're a republican you see it one way and if you're a liberal or a democrat you see it the other way. because you guys were exactly the opposite, and then we'll talk about his bigotry comment, was it enough. first to you, andre. what do you think? >> well, number one excitement is contagious. he was up lifting. look, he said we're going to set your sights higher than we have before. he talked about both parties working together, making joint decisions. i think that's pretty big of him after coming off a win, saying we're going to work together. he has a majority in both houses but he says, no, we're going to work together. we're going to dream big. i don't know how much more positive he could have been. >> he sees positivity in it and he thought it was exciting and that's why i said he was going to run out of adjectives. but, bakari, you -- >> and i would say this, don, those 1,000 people that kept

their jobs and families, they're probably more excited than he is. >> okay. bakari, do you think it is because you are a democrat and you don't see it that way? >> well, i think that you can't discount that there is some bias. i mean everyone has a bias. i mean i wanted hillary clinton to be president of the united states. the fact is she's not, and january 20th donald trump is going to be my president as well. i mean that's a fact. but then there's a larger is it of circumstances, don, and that's the fact i'm terrified. i think many americans are terrified. i think andre and i are close friends, we share dinner together when we travel on the road, hopefully we'll be hanging out this weekend together. but we come from different life experiences which makes our relationship that much stronger, but i will say that my life experiences, like many people in this country who find themselves to either be vulnerable or disenfranchised or have a history of fighting, find themselves concerned about a trump presidency. >> did what he said tonight

about bigotry help you at all? >> yes, it does. i'm very pleased he did it, i've been asking him to say it in a camera for 18 months. but to andre bauer, to sahag an then he has these words. when you have someone like senator session who thinks that the voting rights act is an intrusive piece of legislation, something people fought and died for, that's hard to reconcile the two ideologies. this is going to have to be more than that. he has to begin to show actions. >> you will get to talk on the other side, andre. we will be right back. ♪s♪spread a little love my way ♪spread a little somethin to remember♪ philadelphia cream cheese,

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all right. we're back now. andre, so was that enough? i know that during the campaign you said you didn't like all of the things that donald trump said, but you thought he was the best person who suited your policies. was that enough tonight, what he said about bigotry and coming together? >> i don't know that it is enough. i think bakari was totally eloquent in what he said, that he comes from a different background and our life experience is so vastly different, even only 50 miles apart from where we grew up. i think donald trump is doing a gallant effort at reaching out, at saying, hey, look, i didn't just talk about this stuff in the campaigns, the inner cities i want to show i can do something. the guy is a business guy. he's not going to talk about it like a politician, he is going to talk about it like a guy with

problems in the board room. he gets people around him, lieutenants to help him go out and get these things accomplished. he is doing exactly what he needs to do. he is assembling a good crowd of lieutenants that can make things happen, but he has a clear directive where he wants to take this country. i think you see a guy charged up, ready to go and already producing results before he's even sworn in. still 50 days out and already got -- has businesses willing to now change their directive, keep jobs here. and i think you will see more and more of that continue to happen, and so i hope at some point in time bakari feels embraced by this guy, maybe he doesn't embrace all of his policies but his heart is in the right place and this president is doing something to help every person from every community. >> bakari, 10 seconds. think you can do that? >> well, i hope so. i mean i'm of the belief america has already been great and i think that barack obama was an amazing president. i think that he inherits a great economy. he inherits a country that's moving forward and that has a stature around the world that

had to be rebuilt. my goal and hope and prayer for donald trump is that he makes it a more perfect union, and i will be there to cheer him on if he's successful. >> that's it. thanks for watching. thanks for watching. see you back here tomorrow. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com

donald trump goes on the road to thank his supporters, giving his first extended speech since the election in hopes of uniting america. will he? the victims of this week's deadly plane crash in colombia prepare to make their final journey home. and the struggle to put out the toxic fire lit by isis at an oil well. hello and welcome to our viewers in the united states and around the world. you are watching cnn news room live from atlanta. i'm natalie allen. ♪ u.s. president-elect donald trump is on his post